VOLUME VI, CHAPTER 5, SECTION 5
Tormenting That Grinds Life, Crushing That Breaks Life, the First Two Links of the Chain That Harms the People Lawfully
The last section lit that contrast through, the representatives of the law turn out to be illiterate in the law, and what they hold pinched in their hands is a person's road to life or road to death. But that was all still seen from a height. From this section on, the light goes down into the human world, to see how this nest of the illiterate in the law brings that one thought in their hands down onto living people, one by one. What the illiterate in the law do in the human world comes down to four things, tormenting, crushing, robbing, hounding. This is a whole chain that harms the people, link locked into link, locked all the way to the road to death. This section looks first at the first two links, tormenting that grinds life, crushing that breaks life.
One. Tormenting Is the First Link of This Chain
You probably feel that tormenting is a small thing, is it not just making things hard for you a bit, wasting a little of your time, having you run back and forth a few trips? Next to being driven onto the road to death, what is tormenting? Let me tell you, tormenting is the first link of this whole chain that harms the people. Look back at the second chapter, it was set up there, torment is the greatest root sickness of this world. If this first link cannot be cured, then on down it is crushing, robbing, hounding, sliding all the way down, landing on the road to death. So to look from tormenting is exactly to look from the source of this chain.
Then this nest of the illiterate in the law, how do they, in the name of the law, torment the people? Let me show you three layers. The first layer, the lawmakers' side, laying down laws that torment the people. Look back at the fourth chapter, those new taxes with ten thousand good reasons, those harsh taxes and sundry levies, those rules that are a suggested use and were laid down as break-it-and-be-fined, the ones who laid these down are the lawmakers. He read the clauses, passed the license exams, rose to the lawmaker's seat, and in theory he should understand the intent of the law, protecting the people. But the laws he lays down, do they protect the people? No. The laws he lays down, more often than not, turn the other way, one after another, into tools for tormenting the people.
Two. Lawmaking, Judging, the Window, Three Layers Tormenting Together
The second layer, the judges' side, judging by the letter that the tormenting is compliant. The lawmakers laid down laws that torment, and where do these laws take effect? In the court. The common people, harried past bearing by these tormenting laws, go to sue, sue all the way to the court, and the judge looks down, compliant, the procedure complete, the letter right, the tormenting stands. The gavel comes down, the common people lose. By the letter, this judge did nothing wrong, but look back at that ruler, the intent of the law is to protect the people, and he helped the tormenting from the lawmakers' side land and take effect. He cannot read the intent of the law, he reads only whether the letter is compliant, a textbook illiterate in the law.
The third layer, the low-ranking officials' side, taking shabby code for law and tormenting the people out in the open. Those law-enforcement officers, those sitting behind the window, those low-ranking officials holding department rules, that set of code in their hands that does not even reach the level of civil law, the department rules, is in its true nature only a suggested use. But they take this set of shabby code for law and torment you out in the open. You go to get a certificate, get a stamp, and he digs out a rule, this box is not filled right, do it again; the second time, this item is missing a document, go back and add it; the third time, this step of the process is not mine to manage, go ask another window. One step after another, one gate after another, you stand before the window, begging him, wearing a smile, swallowing your anger, running back and forth, and a whole day is gone just like that, and the matter still not done. In his eyes is only the letter of that shabby rule, and not you, the living person standing before the window, a whole day worn away just like that, who still has to go home and face a whole family, old and young. The ones laying down, the ones judging, the ones carrying out, this nest of the illiterate in the law, three layers together, run this thing, tormenting, from paper, to the court, to the window, lawfully, all the way through into the common people's days.
Three. The Common People Can Only Take It Lying Down
And the common people? The common people can only take it lying down. You cannot sue, sue all the way to the court and you still lose, the judge judges by the letter that the tormenting is compliant. You cannot resist, to resist is to break the law, break the rules, even more trouble. You cannot go around, there is no going around, this matter is his to manage, this certificate needs his stamp. You can only endure, wear a smile, run back and forth, hold that breath in your belly, not take it out on the children at home, not shout at your wife, just alone, mouthful by mouthful, swallow it down.
This is the first thing this nest of the illiterate in the law does, in the name of the law, torment the people, and leave the people taking it lying down, wronged with nowhere to seek redress, in the right with no way to speak it.
Four. Tormenting Is Grinding Away Life
But you may feel, tormenting, however hard to bear, only wears away a few of your hours, a few days, a few years, it surely does not go so far as to kill a person? Let me point out one line for you, tormenting is the first link of this whole chain. In itself it wears away days; but once it slides on down, the next link is crushing, the link after is robbing, the last link is hounding, driving you onto the road to death. The tormenting of the first link is the source of the three links behind; fail to cure the first link, and you cannot cure that whole stretch behind it.
And more, tormenting in itself is, inch by inch, grinding away a person's spirit. A person ground every day by this lawful tormenting, by the end of his living, that bit of hope in life, of faith in the world, of drive in himself, is ground away, a little at a time. This grinding shows no blood and cannot be put into words, but it is the deepest groundwork that lets the three links behind land on a person without being resisted. A person ground by tormenting, when the next link and the one after come, has no strength left to resist.
Think how a person is ground down. The first time he goes to handle a matter and is tormented, he still has fire, he still argues a line or two, still goes back and comes again. The tenth time, the twentieth time, he has no fire left, he accepts it, he has learned to wear a smile, learned to endure, learned to swallow that breath down. A year, two years, ten years, ground like this, is he still the person of those years who stood with a straight back and believed that reasoning could get a matter done? No longer. He has become a person who freezes at the sight of a window, who wants to let it go the moment something happens, whose drive was long since ground away. This is the most insidious thing about tormenting, it does not take your life at one stroke, it grinds away your spirit a little at a time, grinds you into a person with no temper, no hope, who lets others order him about. By the time the robbing and hounding behind arrive, you no longer have the strength to resist. So tormenting is no small thing, it is grinding away life. It is the first link of this whole chain that harms the people, and also the thing this nest of the illiterate in the law does to the people every day, the most everyday, in the greatest numbers, the most widespread.
Five. Crushing, One Layer Heavier Than Tormenting, Pinning You Down So You Cannot Stand Straight
Having lit up the first link, tormenting, the light moves on to the next link, crushing. Tormenting and crushing, where do they differ? Tormenting is making things hard, he blocks you, drags you, wears you down, the matter is still in your hands, he just will not let you get it done smoothly. Crushing is pinning you down, it is not only making things hard, it is using power, using clauses, using rulings directly, to press you down, press you flat, press you until you cannot move, are unable to move. Tormenting is not letting you walk smoothly; crushing is pinning you down and not letting you stand up. One is making things hard, the other is pressing people down with power, one layer heavier than tormenting.
Then this nest of the illiterate in the law, how do they, in the name of the law, crush the people? Let me show you two layers. The first layer, using procedure and clauses to press you down. A common person is bullied by someone with power and influence. He does not accept it, and goes to sue. In court, the other side has hired a formidable lawyer; on his side, he cannot afford one. The lawyer drills a line of reasoning for the other side out of a loophole in one clause; and out of a flaw in the procedure, pushes the responsibility for this matter off clean. The judge looks down, the clause is written so, the procedure was walked so, compliant. The gavel comes down, the common person loses. He does not accept it, wants to appeal, and appealing means walking more procedure, more clauses, more days, more money. He cannot afford the wearing. And just like this, by this compliant set of procedure and clauses, one after another, he is pressed down.
Six. One Layer Fiercer, Personal Will Set Above the Law
The one who bullied him is fine, goes home and goes on bullying the next one. And he himself, from then on, seeing anyone from that side, dares not even speak loudly, he has been pinned down. This is crushing, one layer heavier than tormenting. What it uses is not fists, it is procedure, clauses, rulings, it is that compliant set of letters in the hands of the illiterate in the law, turned into a mountain, pressing on the common people's heads.
The second layer, fiercer, using the robe, the gavel, personal will set above the law, to press you down directly. This layer is the last section's illiterate in the law in office, in the shape he takes on the spot. Some judge does not like the look of you, or he has ties with the people on the other side, or he simply has that big a temper and wants to press you down a bit, show off his own might. He sits in the court, wearing the robe, striking the gavel, and he goes not by the intent of the law, nor fully by the letter, he goes by his personal will. He wants to press you down, so he presses you down with a ruling. Even if in this matter you did nothing wrong at all; even if by the letter and by the intent you should both win, he personally finds this person unpleasant to look at, the other side has ties with me, and he presses. The ruling comes down, you lose. You look back at the written judgment, and however you look it is wrong, even the letter does not match, the intent still less, but he struck that gavel. The gavel comes down, and this is the law. Can you sue him? He sits in that position, with a whole legal system propping him up from behind. Can you reason with him? He wears the robe, his word is the law. You can only stand there and watch him bring down that gavel, and your fate, your home, your innocence, your dignity, are pressed down onto your head by one illiterate in the law, by his personal will.
Seven. Crushing Is Breaking Life, Bending a Person's Back
This kind of crushing is fiercer than the first layer. The first layer presses you down with procedure and clauses, and at least it still wears the skin of compliance, you lose plainly, and though wronged, you can still find in reason which clause was wrong. This layer sets personal will above, and does not even want that layer of skin, he brings down that gavel with no reason, no explanation, no compliance, just because he wants to. This is the illiterate in the law's highest form of crushing, using his own prejudice, private heart, likings, to replace the law directly and press down on your head, and you, as one of the people, have not even a place to reason it out.
Then this crushing, how heavy is it, in the end? Look back at the first link, tormenting grinds away a person's spirit; this link, crushing, one layer heavier than tormenting, does not grind slowly, it is one press straight down on the head. One press, and a person's back bends; that bit of drive in him to lift his head and speak is pressed away by this one press. He dares not sue again, dares not speak again, dares not resist again. From then on, seeing the people from that side, seeing the court, seeing any shape of power, he lowers his head. By this one press he is pressed into a person who no longer dares stand straight. Crushing is breaking life.
Eight. What It Bends Is the Back of the Whole World
This kind of pressing does not press down only him. The ones on that side, seeing this common person pressed down, bully others the next time with an even straighter back. The people beside him, seeing this common person pressed down, tell themselves in their hearts, forget it, do not sue, sue and you lose anyway. The whole world, seeing more and more people pressed down, more and more people choosing to forget it, is pressed by this lawful crushing into a sea of lowered heads, not daring to make a sound. This is the deepest wound of crushing, it does not press down only one person, it presses down the back of the whole world, makes everyone lower his head, not dare, let it go.
But look, who are the ones pressing people down, layer upon layer? They are the ones wearing robes, sitting in courts, laying down clauses, striking gavels, the representatives of the law in people's eyes. They are the very ones who should protect the common people from being pressed down. They were meant to stand between the common people and that bullying hand, and as it turns out, they have become the hand that presses people down. Those meant to protect people turn around and press people down. The intent used backwards, this is the shape crushing takes at the level of the law. And once a person is pressed down, the next step is to take his things, take his property, take his home, take his life, and this is the next link, robbing. The next section lights up the third link and the fourth, robbing that cuts life off, hounding that takes life, these two links, the thickest and coldest on this chain.
Credit to the ancestors; the mistakes are mine: Tiger Lyon.